Math camp looks for bigger numbers

A local summer math camp for girls is extending its bursary deadline to make sure that any high school girl interested in attending will be able to afford it.

Math Quest is open to girls entering Grade 9 or returning to any grade in high school.

"Math Quest is a summer program, of the math department, designed to spark an interest in mathematics in girls, who are under-represented," said Siobhain Broekhoven, Math Quest camp director. "We want this to be accessible to everybody and we totally understand that camp fees aren’t in everyone’s budget. We don’t want any girl not to come because of a fee."

Broekhoven wants to make sure that any girl who is interested in coming to the camp not have a financial challenge stop them.

"So far we haven’t had one person apply for a bursary," said Broekhoven. "Thanks to the generous support of Queen’s University Alumni, who believe that girls interested in mathematics should be able to attend Math Quest regardless of financial situation, we have bursaries in place to assist campers."

New this year, the camp is also able to offer students the opportunity to stay in the residence, in Victoria Hall, overnight during the four-day camp.

"In the past they’ve come from Ottawa and Toronto as well as Kingston," said Broekhoven.

Math Quest is a math camp designed for high school girls because Broekhoven, and Maja-Lisa Thomson before her, saw a significant drop in girls wanting to attend these kinds of camps open to both boys and girls.

"This camp is also sponsored by the Canadian Mathematical Society, which runs camps on other campus across Canada and in 2012 only 30 per cent of the participants were female," said Broekhoven. "Last year only 20 per cent were female and I just want to know where those girls are going? They are our untapped resource."

"A lot of the activities are geared towards girls," said Carly Rozins, one of the returning instructor and assistant organizer. "We just use our own experience to figure out what has worked with girls in the past. It’s also to boost their confidence. I think a lot of the problem is people don’t know that they’re good in math and that can hinder their ability to do well in math."

"The activities that we do are accessible from many levels," added Broekhoven. "No matter where you are at (in your math studies) you will be able to be engaged. We’re looking for girls who are curious. They don’t have to be necessarily good at math."

The summer math program doesn’t use traditional classroom and lecture-style learning. These instructors want to share their love of math through interaction and creative ways.

"We do a lot of activities that are just fun and very hands-on," explained Rozins. "It gives you an appreciation of what you can do with math, when you’re feeling it like programming a robot or decorating pinecones."

"That’s what math is," added Broekhoven. "You take a big problem or something that looks unsolvable and you break it up into little pieces and you figure out all those little pieces and then put it back together again. It is very exploratory and is about finding out the underlying reasons why things work."

The students will get a chance to learn math from the basics to higher levels through interactive activities such as computer programming, paper airplane competitions, investigating how magic tricks work and even setting up their own challenges.

Suzanne Findleton, the newest instructor added this year, is looking forward to introducing and challenging the students.

"I was drawn into mathematics by a math camp so I think it’s a great idea," said Findleton. "It showed me a side I didn’t know math had so I’m hoping to do the same for others."

Math Quest has evolved over the last four years from feedback and what the instructors have learned themselves.

"It used to be called Explore Mathmagics," said Broekhoven. "It’s been totally remodeled."